For over a week, Suriname’s Directorate of Public Green Space and Waste Management (OGA) has been working to clear tons of illegally dumped waste from the grounds surrounding the iconic historic Ston Oso building in central Paramaribo. The landmark site has emerged as a persistent hotspot for unregulated waste dumping, with offenders repeatedly leaving discarded materials and trash on the property despite repeated cleanup efforts.
OGA director Anwar Moenne told reporters via Suriname’s Communication Service that investigators have not yet identified the specific individuals responsible for the ongoing dumping, though authorities hold preliminary suspicions that unhoused people staying in the area are connected to the waste accumulation. “This is one of the locations that sees an extraordinary volume of illegal dumping on a repeated basis,” Moenne stated in his remarks, adding that the directorate will enforce strict penalties against anyone caught dumping waste at the site moving forward.
The current large-scale cleanup operation is being carried out in partnership with several local stakeholders, including a cohort of incarcerated individuals participating in community work programming. Alongside the cleanup efforts, OGA has issued a public call for broader community engagement, urging all Surinamese residents to take responsibility for maintaining clean, healthy shared living environments across the country.
Local business owner Patrick Liesdek, who operates a shop adjacent to the Ston Oso property, told reporters that the illegal dumping problem has plagued the neighborhood for years. Even after multiple previous cleanup initiatives organized by authorities, the area quickly becomes cluttered with waste again once crews finish their work. Liesdek added that the accumulated waste and presence of unhoused people in the area have also brought secondary nuisance issues, including frequent infestations of rodents and other pests that have spilled over to neighboring properties including his store.
Liesdek is calling on local authorities to adopt a long-term, structural solution to the crisis rather than relying solely on periodic cleanup projects that only address the symptom of the problem, not its root causes. At the same time, he expressed hope that the historic Ston Oso building, a landmark of Paramaribo’s cultural heritage, will be preserved and eventually receive full restoration work to protect it for future generations.